In the U.S., the cuisine of the Far East is becoming ever more popular. There’s a Thai food joint in almost every city, Korean and Mongolian barbecue is a regular treat, and Vietnamese pho is a college kid’s go-to hangover cure. However, one country’s cultural foods have yet to break into the American market, and that country is Malaysia.
Yet, Malaysian food seems designed for the typical busy American consumer. Cheap, fast, and always packaged to-go — not to mention delicious with exotic flavors and textures and bountifully varied with endless types and varieties — Malaysian food is as perfect on the street as it is at home or in the office.
Unfortunately, for now it seems that the only way to try this underrated cuisine is during a vacation in Malaysia. Fortunately, interested foodies get to experience their first Malaysian bites in the country that started it all, and they can incorporate their new travel food favorites into their diets to set a new culinary trend. Here are the best food stops to make during your trip to Penang, Malaysia, the capital of the Malaysian food scene.
1. Assam Laksa
Sour, sweet, spicy, warm, and filling, this fishy soup with rice noodles is everything you could ever hope for in a Malaysian meal. In most bowls, you’ll find unconventional ingredients like tamarind, ginger flowers, and birds-eye chilies, which will make your taste buds sing. You can find Assam Laksa all over the city, but the liveliest stalls are in George Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site toward the north of the island.
2. Roti Canaii
If you are on the lookout for a simple and fast breakfast, there is nothing more satisfying tan Malaysian flatbread, or roti canaii. Rich and flaky, the bread is cooked on a huge, shallow wok, slathered in ghee, and dipped into curry. The stall at Jalan Transfer in George Town also offers a warm mug of Malaysian instant coffee (Nescafe with sweetened condensed milk at the bottom) to round out the meal.
3. Apom Balik
While on the topic of breakfast, you might be happy to learn that apom balik is the Malaysian street food version of the pancake; that is to say, it’s a pancake like you’ve never seen it before. Made of rice flour and stuffed taco-style with creamed corn, this pancake is crispy, sticky, savory, and sweet all at once. You can watch a hawker prepare your pancake fresh at Tan Jetty.
4. Chendul
Bright green and jiggling, this dessert soup is not a good choice for the non-adventurous eater. Though the flavors are mild enough — coconut cream and milk sweetened with palm sugar and condensed milk — the color and movement of the mung bean noodles is enough to put most people off. However, in the humid heat of Penang, this cool, refreshing soup will keep you energized for more Malaysian escapades. You can find the most flavorful chendul at Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul in George Town.
5. Soya Cincau
Whenever you stop to rest on the streets of Penang, a kindly hawker will inevitably ask you what you’d like to drink. Nescafe and Milo (a Eurasian chocolate malt beverage) are common everywhere in the city, but precious few places offer the unique soya cincau, or “Michael Jackson” drink. Simple enough, the soya cincau is soy milk with dark cubes or strands of grass jelly floating at the top and bottom; this mixture of black and white is how the drink earned its flashy nickname. Macalister Lane is an excellent street to find a café, or kopi tiam, willing to prepare this beverage.
6. Koay Chiap
Americans recognize chicken noodle soup as nourishing and invigorating, and Malaysians think the same of their version, koay chiap, or duck noodle soup. However, unlike chicken noodle soup, which usually reserves prime pieces of breast and thigh meat, koay chiap is meant to make use of all the duck pieces people normally overlook, like shreds, gizzards, and blood. These atypical cuts flavor the broth in complex ways and perfectly contrast the slick coils of rice noodles. Generally, you can only find koay chiap at night on Kimberly Street, after the regular parts of duck have been used in other meals.
7. Batu Maung Satay
You may think that if you’ve had skewered meat once, you’ve had it all, but I guarantee you’ve never had it like this. Cooks take strips of chicken, pork, and beef, delicately marinate it in a variety of sauces, and grill it to perfection on bamboo skewers. At night on streets like Lorong Baru, you can find dozens of stalls offering this iconic treat with sides of raw cucumber and white onion for refreshment.
8. Ice Kacang
Another mysterious and delicious Malaysian dessert, ice kacang has been described as an ice cream banana split without the ice cream or the banana. On a bed of shaved ice coated in bubble gum–flavored syrup, you’ll see toppings of kidney beans, corn, and jelly candy as well as the ubiquitous condensed milk. At New World Park hawker center, you can find Lee Eng Lai, whose family has been selling ice kacang for almost a century.
